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Margaret Wertheim

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From what source does mathematics arise? Is it divine inspiration, secular intellectual labor, or the pure play of human imagination? For the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, the answer lay definitively with the divine. Ramanujan be...

In the fall of 2003, David Wilson stood behind a podium at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and began what must surely be one of the more curiously riveting lectures in that institution’s history by presenting to the art-savvy audience a cardb...

In January 2004, President Bush committed the U.S. to returning to the moon by 2020. No human has set foot on our celestial satellite for 30 years, but many space enthusiasts believe the moon should be our staging post for journeys to Mars, a dest...

One of the talents OF GREAT ARTISTS is knowing when to stop, recognizing the moment when a work has reached its maximum potential and having the self-control to put down tools and leave well enough alone. Termites would have brilliant careers, and...

In the current version of King Kong, the mighty ape does battle with a giant spider, a recasting of a legendary scene that was cut from the original at the last moment. Unlike apes — for whom, amid the carnage, we can still feel sympathy &md...